Many machines used in the earth-moving, construction, mining, and agricultural industries operate in challenging environments. For example, some mining machines operate in underground mines where the environment may be more challenging due to low tunnel clearances and ground stability concerns surrounding the immediate area. In recent efforts to improve safety at such worksite environments, trends have been to reduce the number of on-site operators at these worksites by implementing machines that are remotely controlled from a remote operator station (ROS).
For machines employed at the physical worksite, the ROS may be positioned remote from the machine at a safer location at or near the worksite or may be away from the worksite. For example, the ROS may be positioned indoors in an office environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,571,765 (the '765 patent) discloses systems and methods for defining a path for a bucket-based emptying operation for automatic control of a mobile mining machine. The systems and methods of the '765 patent provide for path planning when a machine is controlled autonomously. While beneficial, a better control system is needed.